From Marblehead, Massachusetts to Islamabad, Pakistan:A line of text makes a remarkable journey

Page created May 22, 2011; note added Nov 4, 2012by C.A.S.I.L.I.P.S. - Citizens Against Special Interest Lobbying in Public SchoolsAn inspirational line of text has made a remarkable journey across our country and now even to Islamabad, Pakistan.

The story starts in 1994, years before the first Gulen charter school was established, with the charter petition for the Marblehead Community Charter Public School, submitted to the State Executive Office of Education of Massachusetts. [Note: this is not a Gulen charter school.] In this document, the school's founders wrote:

"The purpose of the Marblehead Community Charter Public School is to fully prepare students to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity that is passed from generation to generation in our great country."

Some years later, this text began to make its way across the United States to the following Gulen charter schools, with "our great country" changed to "this great country":

From job posting for Wisconsin Career Academy:"The purpose of Wisconsin Career Academy is to fully prepare students to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity which is passed from generation to generation in this great country."

Annual Report of Horizon Science Academy Dayton:"The purpose of the Horizon Science Academy is to fully prepare students to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity which is passed from generation to generation in this great country."

Website of Indiana Math and Science AcademyNorth:"The purpose of Indiana Math and Science Academy North is to fully prepare students to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity which is passed from generation to generation in this great country."

Website of Coral Academy of Science, Nevada:"The purpose of Coral Academy of Science is to fully prepare students to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity that is passed from generation to generation in this country."

Website of Central Jersey College Prep Charter School, New Jersey:"The purpose of the CJCP is to fully prepare students to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity that has been passed down from generation to generation."

And also to these private Gulen schools:

Mission statement on website of Pinnacle Academy, Virginia:"The purpose of Pinnacle Academy is to prepare students to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity that is passed from generation to generation in this great country."

Website of Science Academy of Chicago, Illinois:"The goal of SAC is to fully prepare students to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity that is passed from generation to generation in this great country."

In the course of its journey the text sometimes changed a little bit, but its origin still remained clear:

Website of Richmond Education Foundation, which is attempting to found Richmond Science Academy charter school in Virginia:"Through this mission and vision our proposed charter school will prepare it students (...) to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity that has been passed from one generation to another in this great country."Charter school petitions for several Magnolia Science Academy schools, California:"The mission of the Foundation is ... Preparing students (...) who are ready to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity that has been passed from one generation to another in this great country."

Having made its way from coast to coast across the United States, the line of text then embarked on an international journey. Remarkably, in essentially its original form (with only the school name substituted, the word "that" changed to "which," and the phrase "our great country" changed to "this country") it found its way to Islamabad, Pakistan, to a job posting for Superior Science Academy Baharakau (note - Baharakau, also written Bharakau, is a section of Islamabad):"The purpose of the Superior Science Academy is to fully prepare students to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity which is passed from generation to generation in this country."

One wonders what the founders of the Marblehead school would think if they knew that their words had traveled so far.

--------

Addendum added Nov 4, 2012:The torch has been passed to Malaysia. Time International School, a Gulen school in Kuala Lampur, says on its website: "The purpose of Time International School is to prepare students to carry the torch of knowledge, freedom, and prosperity that is passed from generation to generation in this great country."

Further Notes: (1) Gulenists often alter their websites, and the text may, at some future point in time, no longer be viewable at some of the links provided above. However, screenshots and other forms of documentation have been saved in all cases.(2) Marblehead Community Charter Public School is still in operation, and the line of text can still be viewed in its charter.(3) Several other cases have been documented of Gulen schools "borrowing" texts from non-Gulenist schools or other sources, particularly texts that are ornate, metaphorical, or use complex phrasings. These texts make their websites look more impressive, but they themselves would have difficulty writing them because of their limited English language skills.